San Diego Chargers Crezdon Butler (20) forces Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrance Williams (83) to fumble the ball near the end zone during the second half of play at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on Sunday, September 29, 2013. The San Diego Chargers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 30-21. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News)

SAN DIEGO — The Dallas Cowboys didn't score any points in the second half Sunday because they simply didn't have the ball enough.

Philip
Rivers threw for 401 yards and three touchdowns, including a 56-yarder
to Antonio Gates that helped the San Diego Chargers beat the Cowboys
30-21.

The Chargers (2-2) blew late leads in their two losses. On Sunday, they scored the final 20 points to beat Dallas (2-2).

"When
you don't have a lot of possessions in the second half, it's not an
excuse, but you have to capitalize on every opportunity we get," said
running back DeMarco Murray, who was held to 70 yards after gaining 175
against St. Louis a week earlier.

"We knew they had a good offense. We knew they were a good team. We just have to get better."

San Diego trailed 21-10 when Nick Novak started the comeback with a 42-yard field goal as the first-half clock expired.

The
Chargers took the opening kickoff of the second half and Rivers moved
them 80 yards, capping the drive with a 13-yard pass to Woodhead to pull
to 21-20.

The way Rivers ran the offense, the Cowboys didn't have
a chance to come back. They ran only seven offensive plays in the third
quarter. Their second possession of the second half didn't come until
the fourth quarter.

"Today we just squandered a few
opportunities," Tony Romo said. "With minimal possessions it's going to
come down to the things that you do right or wrong. Obviously they did a
good job controlling the ball. Their offense played great today. It was
impressive."

Rivers completed 35 of 42 passes, his final TD pass,
to Gates, being the 200th of his career. He threw two TD passes to
running back Danny Woodhead.

After having three 400-yard games in
his previous nine seasons, Rivers has two in this year's four games.
After 35 interceptions the past two seasons, he's been picked off only
twice so far while throwing 11 touchdown passes.

Running a
no-huddle, no-hurry offense under new coach Mike McCoy, Rivers gets to
the line of scrimmage with roughly 20 seconds left on the play clock,
enough time to read the defense and check into a different play, if
necessary. It's a luxury he didn't have in Norv Turner's offense.

"I feel in sync. I have a rhythm and I'm comfortable in the pocket when we get that no-huddle going," Rivers said.

Rivers'
biggest pass wasn't necessarily his prettiest. He short-armed one over
the middle to Gates, who slid behind linebacker Sean Lee to haul it in
and score with 6:54 to go.

Lee had intercepted Rivers on a deflected pass and returned it 52 yards for a 21-10 lead late in the second quarter. Dallas didn't score again.

"It's
terribly frustrating," Lee said. "We want to be a consistent team that
that wins week in, week out. Until we win games like this we're not
there yet and we have to keep working."

San Diego's defense came
up with a big stop in the final moments. Romo moved the Cowboys to the
San Diego 7, where he hit Terrance Williams at the 1. Williams was
stretching for the end zone when he was hit by Crezdon Butler and
fumbled. San Diego's Richard Marshall recovered for a touchback.

A
week earlier, Butler was burned on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Jake
Locker to Justin Hunter with 15 seconds to play to give Tennessee a
20-17 victory. Butler was in against the Cowboys because Derek Cox left
with a knee injury.

It was only the second takeaway of the season for San Diego.

After forcing Dallas to punt, San Diego took a 23-21 lead on Novak's 23-yard field goal that capped a drive starting from the Chargers 11.

Romo threw touchdown passes of 5 and 34 yards to Dez Bryant in the second quarter, when Dallas scored 21 points.

Lee got his interception return for a TD when Rivers was hit by tackle Jason Hatcher as he released the ball.

Cowboys receiver Miles Austin missed the game because of a hamstring injury.

"I
think you always miss Miles," Romo said. "Miles is a great football
player. If you don't have him it's always going to be tougher. But the
thing is, that's part of the game. Miles knows that. The same thing when
I got hurt. You have to be able to find ways to win."

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.